Monday, April 11, 2011

Hedda Sterne: The last of ‘The Irascibles’

Hedda Sterne, an important artist often associated with the (first generation) abstract expressionist movement, passed away on April 8, 2011. She was 100 years old.Notably, she was active as an artist up to the age of 94!

Very often we recognize Hedda for her appearance in a highly popular group photograph called ‘The Irascibles’, which was printed in the ‘Life’ magazine in January 1951, captured by Nina Leen. It is an iconic picture, often bundled with the information about the early years of the Abstract Expressionist movement or the ‘New York School’. But the fact is that many of these artists, including Hedda, were not interested in such a tagging and even the group photo is quite contextual. This was a group of New York artists who protested against the orthodox approach of juries at an important group exhibition by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Eighteen artists signed a letter to protest, and ‘Life’ magazine article coined the term ‘The Irascibles’ in their article talking about the incident.

Eventually all of these artists became very important names of the Abstract Expressionist movement (along with many others who were not part of the group picture), but sadly, women artists who were closely associated with the philosophy did not receive the recognition that they deserved. Hedda Stern, Elaine de Kooning and Lee Krasner were quite impressive artists who often participated in group shows and even had solo exhibitions at that time. But, as compared to the almost ‘god like’ recognition that Pollock, Rothko or de Kooning received, women artists were rarely discussed or acknowledged.

Hedda Sterne was a remarkable artist known for her powerful and very original objective paintings. She was born in Romania and studied in Paris and Vienna before she immigrated to the US during WWII (hence also recognized as one of the influential ‘immigrated artist’ members of the Abstract Expressionist movement).

Here is the picture of 'The Irascibles’ with some information on the artists who are part of the group. Hedda Stern can be seen standing at a prominent position in the photograph in the top row, an apt placement for the artist who made the female presence felt in the dominantly male world of the American art of the 50s.

21 comments:

Debu, you have done what I always wanted someone to do for me. Am a self taught artist with no formal education in this field and no time to go through thick fat history books ! Thanks for making such an interesting blog.

As an admirer (for lack of a better term) of the Abstract Expressionists, I'm somewhat dismayed that I wasn't previously familiar with Hedda Sterne. No mention of her at all in my university studies, and I hadn't come across her name until now.

I'll be teaching classes this summer on Abstract Expressionist painters (even though many of them resisted the label- a point I plan to make clear in my lessons). I'm adding Sterne's work to the program.

About Me

I’m an artist living in Pune, India.
Besides painting, I love reading about art, history and culture.
When I am not doing this, I'm visiting galleries and museums or
traveling across the country in my small car.

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